Renovate. Decorate. And Do It All Over Again.

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Monthly Archives: February 2010

At age 24 when I bought my first condo I stuffed it with contemporary and modern furniture. Though I had always been into decorating under my Mom’s influence, chairs with boxy and clean outlines and dining table with tempered glass top were all that I liked. The next six years was a big blur as so many life-changing events happened such as finishing my MBA, getting married (while doing my part-time MBA and working full-time), changing career, moving twice, and paying off mortgage, etc. I rarely thought of moving furniture around or re-painting any walls at home during those years. And then when the dreadful and big “30” hit, I all of sudden realized “hey, it’s time to live!”. That’s when we bought this new house from a builder, and that’s when I realized it’s now the French Provincial + Hollywood Elegant style that catches my eyes. This is what I’d like to call an “evolution” of my style preference, though Anthony would argue that I just “changed my mind (again)”. In early to mid twenties I would pay over $2,000 for a Le Corbusier style dining table just because it looked so darn good in the showroom. Right now I wouldn’t commit to any furniture without surfing on the web for a few days and visiting a handful of favorite stores to compare prices. I am a proud deal hunter and there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Take this Valbonne Chair for example, I paid $20 for the frame, sanded and painted it with a fresh coat of “antique white”, and then had it re-upholstered for $95. The fabric originally came in red polka dots with fuchsia hot pink background. Not to make the chair look more juvenile than it already is, I used the flipped side of the fabric in solid fuchsia color. The fabric only cost me $3! So in total, a highly customized chair in my favorite color cost me $118…not bad for my first fixer-upper, eh? I haven’t figured out where it will go in the house yet, but hey, it will be there when I finally get to it. 🙂